Basic sanitizing

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vikslen

New brew foo
Joined
Oct 25, 2016
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My main question is -- how careful are you, particularly with rinse water? I understand some people boil their rinse water before using it, but that seems impractical at times, e.g., with rinsing a carboy. (A bottle washer may help?) And do you resanitize equipment every day (or more), e.g., when you are taking daily hydrometer readings?

Secondarily, I understand if there is an advantage with using B-Brite, as opposed, say, to household bleach, it is in cleaning used bottles, and also that it is unscented. (But isn't most bleach unscented?)

Help please!
 
What are you rinsing out? Starsan is specifically a no-rinse sanitizer. This is the reason most people use it as their sanitizing solution. Don't fear the foam.
 
I second the star san. I've had a large bottle for 2.5 years and it's still half full.

Just get a bottle of distilled or RO and dose it with star san. It will last indefinitely this way. Transfer to a spray bottle and use that to spray anything that touches your fermenting beer. Mix a half gallon to gallon on packaging day to sanitize your bottles, kegs etc. As for rinsing, I don't bother usually as star san is a no-rinse sanitizer. I do collect my yeast slurry though, so will boil 1.5 gallons of water with 5 mason jars in it to sterilize. I use this same water to flush star san out of my racking cane and tube. That's it basically.
 
To your main point, no need to boil rinse water.

Before sanitizing you need to ensure the equipment you choose to sanitize is first truly clean. If your equipment is clean, then sanitized, even if there was some funky yeast in your rinse water, the yeast would have nothing on your equipment to feed on and reproduce.
 
And do you resanitize equipment every day (or more), e.g., when you are taking daily hydrometer readings?

Definitely - Clean and sanitize any contact items each time. The general rule for all equipment is clean after using, keep it in a place where it will stay clean, and sanitize before using. Off-topic, but I wonder about your daily gravity readings. Opinions vary, but I don't open the fermenter any more than I have to. For me, this is two days before bottling (gravity reading) and on bottling day (second gravity reading to confirm it is stable).
 
Thanks everyone. Turns out my local brew shop carries Star San, and I am gradually being convinced I really won't need to rinse. ncbrewer, cleaning after use seems very wise! As for the daily readings, I am just following up on Papazian's recommendation to take readings on 2 or 3 consecutive days. Maybe I did jump the gun a bit out of excitement, and the desire to have as much data as possible. I am now waiting on further hydrometer readings a few days, till just before I actually expect my associate and I to have time to bottle!
 
It really lasts forever. 1.5ml of star san in a 0.5 Liter spray bottle filled with distilled water.

I put my bottles in the dishwasher (without detergent).

I clean everything straight after use, rinse it out in the shower and spray it again for good measure!
 
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